Changes in the living environment such as the Westernized diet, changed home environment, lack of exercise, and high stress levels in recent years have led to a trend of annual increases in the numbers of individuals suffering from and at high risk of what are now called “national diseases” such as allergic diseases and lifestyle diseases.
The number of individuals suffering from allergic diseases, particularly hay fever and atopic dermatitis disease, is ever increasing, and thus there is a strong desire for preventive and therapeutic measures against these diseases.
Hay fever and atopic dermatitis are classified as the group I allergic diseases which start with the recognition of a substance introduced into the body as an allergen and subsequent induction of the production of IgE antibody. When the allergen is reintroduced, the allergen binds to IgE antibodies that have become bound to receptor molecules on mast cells and granulocytes. As a result, the mast cells and granulocytes excessively release chemical mediators such as histamine and leukotriene, which causes allergy symptoms such as asthma, dermatitis, and nasal discharge.
For remedy of such allergic diseases, agents such as antihistamine agents and steroidal agents have been administrated as a symptomatic treatment. At present, however, side effects are seen with these drugs and there are also found safety issues regarding their methods of use and their long-term use.
Hyperlipidemia which is one of the lifestyle diseases, is indicated by a neutral fat level exceeding the reference value, and may be caused by the accumulation of unfavorable lifestyle habits such as unbalanced diet, lack of exercise, alcohol drinking, and smoking. It is considered that effective methods for lowering the neutral fat level are diet therapy and exercise therapy, but it is difficult to patiently continue these therapies. For this reason, methods of lowering the neutral fat level without mental and physical pains are desired.
Meanwhile, some of fermented foods produced using lactic acid bacteria have been drawing attention for their health effects such as intestinal regulation effects, immunostimulatory effects, and effects of preventing lifestyle diseases. For example, in the case of yogurt, the lactic acid bacteria cells used for fermentation and the milk peptides in the fermented milk have been reported to exhibit health effects as described above. The functions of lactic acid bacteria which are drawing attention today are the antiallergic function (Patent Literatures 1, 2), the neutral fat-lowering function (Patent Literatures 3, 4) and the like.
In Patent Literature 2, Lactobacillus paracasei KW3110 (FERM BP-08634) is reported to have a particularly high antiallergic function, but there is no report that lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genus Pediococcus have an antiallergic effect. In addition, although Patent Literature 4 reports that lactic acid bacteria belonging to the genus Pediococcus have a neutral fat-lowering effect, the effect does not seem to be sufficient yet.
Also, cocktails produced using functional lactic acid bacteria preparations are known to exhibit various health effects such as intestinal regulation effects when they are taken, but there are a few lactic acid bacteria preparations known to exhibit multiple functions.